While St. Paul has maintained relatively steady numbers over the years for the rate of solved murders, officially known homicide clearance rates, the share of murders solved in Minneapolis is down. That mirrors a national trend: in 1965, 83 percent of U.S. murders were cleared. Last year, it was 56 percent.

That the murder clearance rate is down from the 1960s — before DNA testing, cell phone tracking and the internet — might come as a surprise.

“When you watch television, every murder gets solved by beautiful people standing in front of glittering TV monitors,” said Thomas

LaDura Watkins and his attorney, Wolfgang Mueller, talk about his wrongful murder conviction that lost him 42 years of his live in prison.

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LaDura Watkins spent almost 42 years behind bars for a crime he said he did not commit.(Photo: Mandi Wright, Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo

A man who spent more than four decades in prison for a murder he maintains he didn’t commit has filed a $168-million lawsuit against police and a prosecutor who worked the case in the 1970s, as well as the city of Detroit.

In a 39-page lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday, LaDura Watkins, 62, alleges authorities framed him for the 1975 murder of school teacher Yvette Ingram. In June, Watkins was

LaDura Watkins and his attorney, Wolfgang Mueller, talk about his wrongful murder conviction that lost him 42 years of his live in prison.

Buy Photo

LaDura Watkins spent almost 42 years behind bars for a crime he said he did not commit.(Photo: Mandi Wright, Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo

A man who spent more than four decades in prison for a murder he maintains he didn’t commit has filed a $168-million lawsuit against police and a prosecutor who worked the case in the 1970s, as well as the city of Detroit.

In a 39-page lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday, LaDura Watkins, 62, alleges authorities framed him for the 1975 murder of school teacher Yvette Ingram. In June, Watkins was

With the death Thursday of a woman who was shot earlier this week by her boyfriend, the number of killings in East Baton Rouge Parish hit a record number, according to the FBI’s crime statistics and records maintained by The Advocate.

Authorities identified the victim as 34-year-old LaQuetra Pidgeon.

Police have said that Pidgeon was shot by her boyfriend, 29-year-old Daniel Johnson, who then shot and killed himself. Johnson died in Pidegon’s Banyan Trace Drive home and Pidgeon died in a hospital two days later.

The death marks a record high of 97 homicides in one year for East Baton Rouge Parish with about three weeks still remaining before the end of 2017, according to records maintained by The Advocate.

The previous record for the most intentional and unjustified killings in the parish was 96 in 2007, according to the FBI’s uniform crime report statistics.

The city of Louisville has paid more than $566,000 to nine law firms to fight Kerry Porter’s claim for compensation for the 14 years spent behind bars for a murder he did not commit.

Porter was exonerated in 2011 by former Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Stengel for the 1996 killing of truck driver Tyrone Camp. In 2012 he sued the city and 10 police officers, alleging a conspiracy to unlawfully arrest and convict him.

Unlike 27 other states, Kentucky has no law requiring compensation of wrongfully incarcerated prisoners. Their only chance of recovery is through litigation.

Documents obtained by Courier Journal through the state public records law show Metro Government has paid lawyers $480,707 in fees plus $86,007 in costs since July 2011.

Linda A. Smith, director of the Kentucky Innocence Project, which fought for

When writing mystery novels, author Harry Dolan keeps track of two different things: what the reader thinks is happening and what is really happening.

“You want to play fair with the readers as much as you can, so there needs to be clues about what’s really going on. But the clues can’t look like clues or they’ll give everything away. It comes down to control: You have to reveal things at the right time, not too soon or too late,” explained Dolan, 51.

A native of Rome, NY, currently living in Ann Arbor, Dolan is the author of the David Loogan mystery novels: “Bad Things Happen,” “Very Bad Things” and “The Last Dead Girl.” The first two books occur in Ann Arbor.

Shawn Henning sits at a long, cafeteria-style table in the Enfield Correctional Center. He is emotional, near tears. “I wasted my life in here,” he said, flicking his head at the prison surroundings. “It was wasted time for nothing.”

“Damn.” A few tears come.

Henning and another man, Ralph “Ricky” Birch, have been locked up since 1989, serving sentences of 50 and 55 years respectively, for a gruesome 1985 murder in New Milford they steadfastly insist they didn’t commit.

Perhaps they didn’t. The state’s case, never airtight to begin with, has diminished over the years as two prosecution witnesses have recanted, key defense testimony was uncovered, and DNA testing put an unknown person at the scene. It also was disclosed that famed state criminalist Dr. Henry Lee offered erroneous testimony in the trials of the two men, though Lee contests the finding.

Police believe a Maryland woman killed her 2-year-old son before taking her own life on Saturday night.

A family member called 911 about 10 p.m. Saturday, asking police to do a welfare check at a townhouse on Countrywood Court in Landover, Maryland. When officers arrived, they found Yu Song, 34, and Joseph Wang, 2, dead inside the home.

Neighbors told News4 the Song’s husband showed up to the townhouse and banged on the door before police came and found her and the child dead.

Neighbors said the family had recently moved out of the townhouse, but Song somehow got inside.

Mother, Boy Dead in Murder-Suicide

Prince George’s County police say a woman killed her 2-year-old son and then herself. News4’s Derrick Ward reports.

Police believe a Maryland woman killed her 2-year-old son before taking her own life Saturday night.

A family member called 911 about 10 p.m. asking police to do a welfare check at a townhouse on Countrywood Court in Landover, Maryland. When officers arrived, they found the 34-year-old woman and little boy inside. They were both pronounced dead at the house, police said.

Both the woman and the boy died of asphyxiation, police said.

Police identified the mother as Yu Song and the son as Joseph Wang. They both lived on Gumper Court in Glen Burnie, police said.

Neighbors told News4 the Song’s husband showed up to the townhouse and banged on the door before police came and found her and the child dead.

Neighbors said the family had recently moved out of the townhouse, but Song somehow got inside.

Investigators are asking anyone with information to call 301-772-4925. Callers

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. — Sheriff’s officials are investigating after three people were discovered dead in their Spotsylvania County home Saturday afternoon.

Deputies were dispatched to a home in the 7900 block of Waterford Drive at approximately 3:30 p.m. after the Emergency Communications Center received a request to check the welfare of the residents there. Upon arrival, they were advised by a neighbor that the homeowner’s dog had been seen running around the neighborhood and that the door to the home was left open.

Several attempts were made to call out to the occupants of the home before someone noticed a person inside the residence slumped over in a chair. Deputies then made the decision to enter the home to render aid and discovered 38-year-old Meghan Scully dead from a gunshot wound. As they